Why do sellers not know their maintenance fee?

[VHSGreg]

Hello, I own a timeshare, and know that the yearly maintenance fee at my resort is the same for week 1 owners as it is for week 52 owners.

I am looking to purchase a resale at my resort and started my search both here and at SMTN.com

Anyhow, the listings at SMTN.com and even on TUG, both display different maintenance fees? In my opinion the maintenance fee is one of the most important factors in a purchase of a timeshare. Any idea why the advertisements all display different maintenance fees?

Also I was looking at other resales for other resorts (where I have no idea what the maintenance fee is) and on those other resorts the maintenance fees are quite varied.

 

[artringwald]

SMTN.com takes money up front, posts the listings, and then does nothing. The listing you saw there may be way out of date. Other people may not keep good records, and may not remember the exact amount of their MF. It's usually safe to assume that the highest MF is the latest and most accurate. The only way to make sure is to ask for an estoppel letter. You could also look on http://www.redweek.com If it is Red Week certified, the MF should be accurate.

 

[theo]

Hello, I own a timeshare, and know that the yearly maintenance fee at my resort is the same for week 1 owners as it is for week 52 owners.

I am looking to purchase a resale at my resort and started my search both here and at SMTN.com

Anyhow, the listings at SMTN.com and even on TUG, both display different maintenance fees? In my opinion the maintenance fee is one of the most important factors in a purchase of a timeshare. Any idea why the advertisements all display different maintenance fees?

Also I was looking at other resales for other resorts (where I have no idea what the maintenance fee is) and on those other resorts the maintenance fees are quite varied.

Some possibilities (all of them speculative, but all of them very possible):

1. Obsolete m.f. amount, retrieved from some prior year bill (or just from memory) without bothering to ferret out the most current figures.
2. Inclusion / exclusion of property tax amount (property taxes are sometimes billed separately from m.f.'s --- e.g. in Maine and, I think, California).
3. Different sized units at a facility may obviously have different sized fees. A one digit typo error on the number of BR's would create a m.f. info mismatch.
4. At some resorts (Samoset in Maine comes immediately to mind), different construction "phases" may reflect slightly different m.f. amounts for the same sized units among the different "phases" (e.g., there are 3 separate buildings / phases at Samoset, each one having slightly different m.f.'s).
5. Exclusion / inclusion of "mandatory program fees" (e.g. RCI memb. fees w/ Wyndham) as being a part of maintenance fees (which they are not, in truth).

 

[Ty1on]

Hello, I own a timeshare, and know that the yearly maintenance fee at my resort is the same for week 1 owners as it is for week 52 owners.

I am looking to purchase a resale at my resort and started my search both here and at SMTN.com

Anyhow, the listings at SMTN.com and even on TUG, both display different maintenance fees? In my opinion the maintenance fee is one of the most important factors in a purchase of a timeshare. Any idea why the advertisements all display different maintenance fees?

Also I was looking at other resales for other resorts (where I have no idea what the maintenance fee is) and on those other resorts the maintenance fees are quite varied.

In addition to theo's possibilities, the resellers, the legitimate ones as well as SMTN, rely heavily upon what they are told by the owners. A lot of times, the owner guesses what they're paying when they give the info to the reseller. Other times, the resellers simply make errors, they are human.

 

[theo]

SMTN.com takes money up front, posts the listings, and then does nothing. The listing you saw there may be way out of date. Other people may not keep good records, and may not remember the exact amount of their MF. It's usually safe to assume that the highest MF is the latest and most accurate. The only way to make sure is to ask for an estoppel letter. You could also look on http://www.redweek.com
If it is Red Week certified, the MF should be accurate.

If you are referring to "RedWeek verified", RW will certainly "verify" the ownership identity of the advertiser and interval unit / week, but I'm not sure that they actually verify the accuracy of any other information that an advertiser places in his / her ad, including maintenance fee amount.

 

[artringwald]

If you are referring to "RedWeek verified", RW will certainly "verify" the ownership identity of the advertiser. I'm not at all sure that they actually verify the accuracy of whatever an advertiser indicates in his / her ad for current maintenance fees however.

It's a small sample set, but the 6 RedWeek verified listings for the resort where I own were all accurate.

 

[TUGBrian]

I would suspect that the average resale listing (assuming its recently posted) has an accurate maintenance fee...

I do notice that some folks will list JUST what their bill shows them on the line for maint fees, and not include other items that are paid annualy as well (property taxes for instance).

still others will list the MONTHLY cost to them vs the annual maintenance fee, because thats simply the amount they pay each time they get a bill, they might not know that other intervals collect the fee yearly etc.

further others will cut it in half if its an EOY interval...the list goes on and on.

 

[Cornell]

I am in the process right now of purchasing two resales (one from SMTN.com and one via a Realtor). Getting accurate MFs was the hardest part of the process. None of that information was accurately posted (if at all). However, through patience and lots of inquiries I was able to find two resales that I'm really happy with. I have had a very positive experience as a buyer with SMTN.com -- the person there who I've been working with has bee super professional & responsive.

 

[dioxide45]

This is why you do your own due diligence. In most cases, you know what the MF is, so it really doesn't matter what the ad says.

My experience in the past has been the same. Actually bought a week where the MF was wrong in the ad. When I asked about it, the broker said it the listing was put out by one of his associates and it looked like they only included the operating and reserve fees and excluded the tax amount. This was for a property in Florida where everything is billed by the HOA and not where taxes are billed by the county.

 

[Ty1on]

This is why you do your own due diligence. In most cases, you know what the MF is, so it really doesn't matter what the ad says.

My experience in the past has been the same. Actually bought a week where the MF was wrong in the ad. When I asked about it, the broker said it the listing was put out by one of his associates and it looked like they only included the operating and reserve fees and excluded the tax amount. This was for a property in Florida where everything is billed by the HOA and not where taxes are billed by the county.

I picked one up where the MF were advertised at $1,400 and I knew them to be $800. I told the guy and he was unfazed, didn't want to relist.

 

[dioxide45]

I picked one up where the MF were advertised at $1,400 and I knew them to be $800. I told the guy and he was unfazed, didn't want to relist.

These are usually the ads you can good deals on. Those along with ads that list a unit as non lock off when all the owners at the property have lock off rights and Starwood units that don't list as mandatory but you know they are from other factors. Take advantage of those ads. Not all resale buyers are as educated about what they are buying as they should be and will skip over those listings. Take advantage and get a good deal.

 

[DeniseM]

To verify with Redweek, you send them your deed and reservation - this does not verify the details in your Ad.

 

[dioxide45]

To verify with Redweek, you send them your deed and reservation - this does not verify the details in your Ad.

That would apply to Redweek verified rental listings, but what about resale listings? You wouldn't send them a reservation for a resale listing. Though I don't think Redweek pulls an estoppel unless you go full service. I think that all full service listings also show as Verified.

ETA: I went it to Redweek and acted like I was doing a resale listing. There is no option to do a Verified resale listing. Either do it yourself or full service. Full service is handled by a licensed broker. Wouldn't they pull an estoppel to make sure what they are listing is actually accurate?

 

[Saintsfanfl]

Fee variances in listings are more common than not. Mostly due to older info but sometimes outright wrong. I see errors all the time that are more blatant than maintenance fee amounts. Some people don't even know how many bedrooms or bathrooms are in the unit they are selling. It's almost like they have a completely different resort and they listed under the wrong one. I don't mind fee variances because what they list has zero bearing on what will have to be paid and it is easily verfiied but if the other details are wrong I just ignore the listing and move on.

 

[dougp26364]

Hello, I own a timeshare, and know that the yearly maintenance fee at my resort is the same for week 1 owners as it is for week 52 owners.

I am looking to purchase a resale at my resort and started my search both here and at SMTN.com

Anyhow, the listings at SMTN.com and even on TUG, both display different maintenance fees? In my opinion the maintenance fee is one of the most important factors in a purchase of a timeshare. Any idea why the advertisements all display different maintenance fees?

Also I was looking at other resales for other resorts (where I have no idea what the maintenance fee is) and on those other resorts the maintenance fees are quite varied.

We've owned timeshares since 1998. We've spoken with a lot of timeshare owners while on vacation and, in the past, we've attended several group owner updates where the resort attempts to educate owners and answer questions. What has always struck me as odd is just how many timeshare owners have absolutely no clue what they own or how to use it. I recently gave one of our timeshares to friends of ours. I asked them what the MF was for the current year and, they didn't know for certain.

Personally I can't imagine not know what I own, how much it costs and how to use it most effectively. It seems to me the we, and most other TUG members, are in the minority with these things.

 

[VHSGreg]

Some excellent answers. Thanks. I presume probably many of the reasons - old ads, owners not really knowing, sellers misleading ads etc.

It is simply bizzare. I was looking at Grandview Las Vegas .com and looking at resales (someone said their point/MF is good) Anyhow, if I look in those ads many post a MF of $115 What the heck??? Others post as floating and have no points attached - I guess they could be floating weeks or something. Anyhow odd.

But like the above said, probably many on this board are a little more in the know then the typical timeshare owner. I even find I phone up RCI and ask them questions and half the time they have no idea about how something works, or they explain it wrong.

 

[TUGBrian]

if i had to guess, its likely a monthly or bimonthly payment at $115

 

[tschwa2]

A biennial 1 br is about $190 annually. They may have triennial 1br units for around $115 annually (Grandview).

 

[1Kflyerguy]

With eBay listing, i think a lot of the bigger sellers / brokers just cut and paste their text from listing to listing... Heck even individual sellers may copy the text from other listings to use as their own.. I often see simple errors like "The 2015 fees are paid in full"... I would hope so, its 2016 now...